


to be valued (he does not know it)

by klaviergavout



Series: Prompt Bingo! [4]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Cherished, Crushes, Introspection, M/M, Mentors, Robot Feels, and zenyatta thinks GENJI doesnt understand his own feelings...., boy oh boy are these bots in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:27:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23844454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klaviergavout/pseuds/klaviergavout
Summary: Genji has taught Zenyatta a great deal about himself. Now Zenyatta must reconsider where his priorities lie.
Relationships: Genji Shimada/Tekhartha Zenyatta
Series: Prompt Bingo! [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704583
Kudos: 63





	to be valued (he does not know it)

**Author's Note:**

> Doing a prompt bingo card to encourage myself to write more often! The prompts for this fic are 'Cherished' and 'Mentors' - yep, a double whammy this time. Haven't played Overwatch in so long but Genyatta has finally consumed me.

Zenyatta has always valued peace and spirituality above all things.  Dissatisfied with the dogmatic teachings of the Shambali, he left the comforts of the monastery he once called home; now he aims to help others reach their full potential through self-enlightenment. If needed he will fight, but only to protect. He is a healer, a guide, a shepherd in this world full of hate and fear. That is his creed.

Nowadays, though, he isn't so sure of what he values most.  No matter who Zenyatta finds on his many travels, he deals with the same two groups of people all the time; omnics who can't cope with their lack of emotion and humans who can't cope with too much of it. Everyone he's helped along the way has fallen into one of those two categories, without exception.

Everyone except for Genji.

Genji is different.  Where Zenyatta is a comforting path that leads towards a peaceful way of life, Genji is a crossroads, full of uncertainty and misunderstandings.  He is a perfect split between man and machine - unable to accept or even _consider_ the balance between his own two selves. Zenyatta thrives on balance.

Zenyatta has met many cyborgs before (he may hail from the unyielding peaks of the Himalayas, but he does not live under a rock)  .  They are firm members of that first category; their heavy attachment to their previous selves prohibit them from achieving full enlightenment  .  Eventually  they come to realise that cybernetic enhancements are key to their prolonged survival, and their anger fades away as quick as it came, replaced by a somewhat selfish want for life. It is not an ideal wish to have when aiming for true tranquility of the soul, but Zenyatta understands it well.

Despite his familiarity with cyborgs, Genji's mindset has always confused him: so much inner turmoil, so much self-disgust that cannot  be dissuaded by  the promise of life.  One look at crimson scars and cold metal threw his dear student into a whole spiritual crisis - one that has taken years  just  to break the surface of.

Somehow Zenyatta's disciple has become a learning point for him, who was once so set in his ways.  He thought he understood everything he could  possibly  hope to understand when he achieved transcendence, but this troubled young man has taught him otherwise. How can he claim to know himself and others when his own student is a clear outlier?  And as for the two categories he once took as truth - Genji is a robot warring with his own furious feelings and a human so indifferent to his own nature that he no longer recognises his own heart beating.

_His own heart beating._ Zenyatta doesn't have a heart,  just  an empty space in his chassis where one could have been, had he not  been built  as he was.  But still he glows a little brighter when Genji smiles, worn eyes curving into tender half-moons. Swears he can feel something pounding in his chest when Genji calls him _teache_ _r._

Is he floating, or flying? A touch of Genji's hand and he _soars._

It makes Zenyatta wonder if he  truly  does value peace and spirituality above all things, or if a certain little sparrow has become more cherished to a heart that wasn't there to begin with.


End file.
